Phone scams reported in Macon | News

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Monday was an interesting day for Superior Court Clerk Erica Woodford. A woman came into her office saying she was on the phone with an alleged scam artist.

Dolores Freeman told Woodford she received a a call from a man claiming to be an "Officer James Hall from the Bibb County Sheriff's Department." The man told her she had missed jury duty and would have to pay a fine of around 700 dollars.

The man wanted to meet her at Wal-Mart to pay him the money. Instead, she drove to the clerk's office, where Woodford told her she did not have jury duty and that this was a scam. Freeman even put Woodford on the line with the man, who hung up and Woodford said who she was.

That same day, another unrelated Freeman, 58-year-old Dorothy Freeman from East Macon received a call from the same man asking for the same kind of money.

Freeman says she knew it was a scam after the man made lewd sexual comments towards her.

Woodford says her office has received at least 5 complaints over the past few months of people reporting jury duty scams.

A few weeks ago, two people were arrested, 21-year-old Tevin Johnson and 23-year-old Latoria Gibson in connection with a similar type of phone scam.

It's unclear at this point if the two are connect, and the Bibb County Sheriff's Office is investigating.

In the meantime, Woodford says any time someone asks for money over the phone, it is a scam. She also says you should never arrange to meet someone from law enforcement anywhere except the courthouse or Sheriff's Office.

If you're received a call like this, you can call Macon Regional Crimestoppers at 1-877-68-CRIME.